Lazy?

This is a forum for bonding with your fellow Dogsters about the traits, quirks and idiosyncrasies of your favorite breed. Please remember that there are absolutely no animal sales or requests for studding or breeding allowed on our sites. All posts and interactions should be in the spirit of Dogster's Community Guidelines and should be fun, friendly and informational. Enjoy!

This might be the stupidest question ever, my vet definitely looked at me like I was nuts when I asked her about it, but are Siberian Huskies kind of a lazy breed? We've had Obi since he was 7 or 8 weeks old (foundling/rescue- long story) and when he was tiny, of course he slept a lot, but he's 2 now and I swear, he is the sleepiest dog I've ever seen and he takes his naps VERY seriously. If you try to pet him or get him to play when he's trying to nap, he gives you the brush off and if you keep messing with him, he gets up and moves to a different spot. When he's awake though, he's SUPER AWAKE and has more energy than our other 3 dogs put together. He just seems to sleep a whole lot and I'm wondering if it's a Husky thing or possibly whatever other breed he's got in there is the cause. Anyone else have a lazy dog?

I think the question is not so much are they lazy, as are they bored. Around home, Ember will wrestle with me, catch a ball a few times and play tug... Maybe it adds up to an hour of playtime, total. She does enjoy a good chew for an hour or so too. So that's 2 hours of strong activity. The rest of the time she lies around, dozing.

If I take her for a walk, she will run for miles, sniffing, tracking, hunting, just running to run. We can be out for hours and she'll still actively avoid the car every time we circle back.

When we go to daycare, she goes non-stop for first 2 - 3 hours, running, wrestling, and tugging, often with 2 dogs at a time. She then plays intermittently for the next 3 - 5 hours, pausing to rest between friends and even taking some longer naps (half hour-ish) toward the end of the day.

She's not lazy by a long shot. I am just not nearly as cool as furry woodland creatures and other dogs. She's bored at home.

Boredom can become routine. I have worked with older dogs in daycare who don't seem to realize they can play all day, because they're so used to sitting around waiting for their people to do something all day long.

Stubbornness over being interrupted at anything is a Husky trait, but if a dog is downright grouchy over being touched I would recommend a vet visit to rule out pain as a cause.

Everywhere you read online about huskies will tell you to make sure you will be able to keep up with them because they are such an active breed. Generally speaking, they are naturally active dogs but some have the ability to become "lazy."

Miko will have the zoomies for 10-15 minutes and then sleep for 5 hours, or he can play at the dog park for an hour and then sleep all night. I'm sure his activity level will increase as he gets into his "teens" but overall he is quite content with his total of two hours of activity per day.

However, if you ask more of your husky he/she should be more than happy to jump to it and if they don't then I would start to wonder if, as PP said, they need to see the vet.

My in-laws have a 5 year old husky that has gotten FAT because they do not do ANYTHING with him. Huskies are not meant to be overweight, and it is only fair to them to give them a chance to be active or they will fall into being couch potatoes.